Comments (5)

1. Blue Ridge Patriot says:

   March 10, 2010 at 6:08 pm

   The packaging is full of warnings about the danger of allowing the smoke or the burning material to touch the user.

   The instructions repeatedly mention the fuse — but none is included. So you either have to run the risk of contriving your own method of lighting the material (careful – the package repeatedly warns of danger even if used properly) — or throwing it away.

   As useless, which it is, since our local hardware store and our feed store do not supply fuses or fuse material.

   The company has an answering service, even during business hours, and no one returns my calls when I leave a message.

   A big problem – gophers under our barn and sheds — but a useless product. I’d rate it half a star if I could.
   
   Rating: 1 / 5
2. Harvey A. Lewis says:

   March 10, 2010 at 7:32 pm

   I have used hundreds of Giant Killers in various yards over the last decade, but I can no longer recommend them. I assume Atlas changed their formula because they used to work well, but now they go out, often before they have burned even a third of the way. I have taken to drilling a hole in the end that does not come with a hole, cutting the fuse in half and putting half a fuse in each end so I can light the other end after the first end goes out. Getting them lit now is more difficult because they changed to an ( apparently ) cheaper fuse. The old green fuse worked well, but the new red fuse barely burns at all. It looks like another case of same MBA squeezing more profit out of something until it is worthless. I am switching to using lawnmower exhaust.
   Rating: 2 / 5
3. K. Chan says:

   March 10, 2010 at 9:54 pm

   I have 4 acres that I spent a lot of money landscaping. Cat used to catch a lot of the moles, but he’s getting fat and lazy like me. Tried poisons, but they’re expensive and unreliable, and the dogs could end up getting to it. Also, the “repellents” don’t work – you want to eradicate them, not scare them into adjacent areas where they’ll just come back or dig up your neighbors yard. I used to buy these individually at the hardware store, but if you buy 100 at a time, you can get them for close to a buck apiece.

   The trick to using them is in technique and vigilance. First, I take them all out of their packages and put the fuses in a plastic bag where they’ll stay dry. It’s easy to lose the fuses if you don’t do this. Cut a piece of 1/2″ garden hose about 18″ long. Take the sticks and put them in a pail with a lid (an old paint can, powdered laundry detergent box, etc) along with your hose and a narrow hand shovel. Go to a mound, and probe for an opening with the shovel. The fresher the hole the easier. Once you find the opening, make sure it’s free of dirt by pushing the hose down into the opening. Otherwise, it may be blocked partway down and the smoke won’t get down into the burrow. Light the fuse, wait for the fuse to burn down a little, and shove it into the hole FUSE FIRST, covering it with dirt. You will be able to hear the stick burning even though it’s covered.

   Sometimes you won’t be able to find the opening – in that case, just stomp down the dirt to compact it – put a little water on it if you have to – and the moles will push a new hole up overnight to breathe. Once you have things under control, it gets easier. Since moles are active at night, the best time to bomb them is first thing in the morning. Sometimes, the fresh holes are still exposed, so you don’t even have to use the shovel. Any fresh dirt that wasn’t there the night before is almost a sure kill. In these cases, you don’t even need a full stick – you can cut the sticks in half with a PVC pipe cutter, and cut the fuses in half with scissors. If you use a butane lighter, you don’t really even need the fuse most of the time, but it’s faster if you do. Take an awl and punch a hole for the fuse in the second half of the stick, which will be plenty to nuke a fresh hole – and now you’re only paying 50 cents a kill.

   For infested areas, the key is to stay on top of it. Moles are voracious eaters and diggers, and the more complex their tunnels get, the harder it is to eradicate them since they have more escape routes. I’ve probably killed a couple hundred moles this way. They still come back now and then, but not for long.
   Rating: 5 / 5
4. D. Garrett says:

   March 10, 2010 at 11:37 pm

   Well, I’ve gone through the whole box, and no luck in clearing out my pocket gopher problem with the “Giant Destroyer”. I was as close as it gets to an active burrow, I watched the gopher stick his head out of the hole, and I ran over and dumped the lit destroyer into the hole. I quickly sealed it, and you could hear the device burning underneath the dirt — and there was no leaking smoke anywhere in the yard. So this is the best case scenario, a entire tunnel filled with smoke, knowing the gopher was
   
   right there. Things were quiet for the day, but sure enough at dusk, another new hole pops up in our yard.

   So my advice, you can probably skip this step, and move on to the traps, and then poison pellets for the gopher problem.

   Rating: 1 / 5
5. Jack K. Gates says:

   March 11, 2010 at 2:17 am

   I had a gopher or vole, a nasty little thing that would push up mounds in my flowerbeds that had a lot of rock a few inches deep surrounding the plants. That did not slow it down any little bit. When I found a few rock and dirt piles out in the middle of the yard I tried poison and repellent that I thought worked but after 1 week there was new activity. I bought the Giant Destroyer and used two in a fresh mound after clearing the tunnel and followed directions. Mine did have the fuses. It has now been 20 days without rodent activity. Thanks Giant Destroyer.
   
   This is the only product that I have found that actually works.
   
   Rating: 5 / 5